Saturday, August 30, 2008

Obama Bin Biden vs. Sarah Palin and Tall McCain

Well kids...what a week! Just when we thought Obama had it in the bag...he does the unthinkable! He trades in Billary and their 18,000,000+ votes and goes for the jugular with Joe Biden-- the aging policy wonk from the major state of Delaware...with its three electoral votes...the same as North Dakota...but he salvages all of this potential disaster with an incredible coronation speech at Denver...and properly pursues the strategeeree of hanging Dubya around McCain's neck...

...but I tried to make sense of the Biden pick...he really is a smart guy, a good family story, kept his nose clean in the Senate ('Cept for that itty bitty problem of plagarism from his school daze--but hey, who hasn't outright ripped off other's materials and made it your own? C'mon now!) and I really didn't think Obama would pick a Biden over other choices he had...OK, I am really trying to keep an open mind here! So let me get this straight...

*The multi-national forty-something African-American Chicago street fighter community organizer radical takes for his running mate the highly predictable elderly white dude Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from just about the tiniest (area) state in the union...

While in the other corner...

*The elderly (very!) Caucasian P.O.W. "maverick" (with eight houses) takes for his running mate a gun-packing moose-burger eating forty-something mother of five (do you think I am making this up?) from just about the tiniest (population) state in union?!?

What is he thinking?

Look, McCain is not the greatest guy the GOP has come up with to run for the White House, but I have to give it to him...I cannot think of a better way of knocking Obama off the air on Friday morning than coming up with a highly unpredictable selection for Veep

This election may actually be interesting and close ! Thanks Obama for keeping hope alive!

Oh, and one or two other things that I am thinking about following this week's turn of events...besides the goiter thingy growing on Johnny Mac's neck (yes, I know it is probably left over from his cancer treatment) and the purple lips that Barak gets (what is up with that? eewwww!)...

Now, which woman in an orange pant suit did you think was going to be on the White House ticket this year? Hmmmm?

1 comment:

Well, I don't think anybody seriously following the elections thought that Hillary had ANY chance whatsoever at the veep spot, but it was an incredibly stupid (and rather odd) oversight on Obama's part to not go through the motions at the very least in an attempt to pacify her supporters... Regardless, I'm fine with his choice of Biden, while conceding that it was obviously inspired less by "hope for change" than a way to silence McCain's attacks during the Russia/Georgia conflict. But in your brief dossier of Biden's accomplishments you don't mention that he's the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, which might have given some experience that might be useful considering the current state of the world... For better or worse a safe pick, but a solid one.

On the other hand, kudos to McCain for completely wiping Obama and his speech out of the news yesterday, but I have to say, the selection of Palin is a total head-scratcher for me... yes, I suppose she technically has executive experience, but 20 months running a state with a population less than the constituency Obama represented in the Illinois Senate (for eight years, no less)? And have you read any of her (non)statements on the war on Iraq? Considering that McCain's most effective weapon up to this point has been attacking Obama's lack of experience, it's bizarre that he has opened up himself to this kind of criticism in his own campaign... curiouser and curiouser...

The interesting thing about all of this is that the role of the VP is probably more important than it ever has been, and not in the sense that Cheney's reign has drastically expanded the position's power. But it strikes me that the credentials of the VP is so essential this time around is that--as much as I hate to say it--there's actually a sizeable risk on both sides that the VP would at some point have to step up to the position of Commander in Chief. Not even taking into account McCain's advanced age (and considering the pressures of the position, that in itself worries me) there's also his past fights with cancer. And considering that already in Denver several drunk men were arrested with guns in the car, saying their target was Obama demonstrates that racist hate hasn't entirely disappeared in the USA, and the ugly ramifications that can hold...

Oh, and one other thing--what do you make of the sudden, unexpected veneration of Hillary by the GOP? From McCain adds quoting her in a positive light to Palin's reference in her speech (an awkward moment that made me laugh--you could sense the crowd wasn't sure to cheer or not)... personally, it strikes me as being political hypocrisy at its most surreal, considering the GOP had been frothing at the mouth for years, sharpening their knives to go on the attack as soon as she was named the Democratic nominee...

But hey, this is all turning out to be an entertaining show! Too bad it's regarding a matter so important...